Monthly Archives: January 2016

As I approached the “new” year, a week before the “old” year ended, I thought of what I wanted to accomplish in the next time period, 2016. Unfortunately, what I wanted to do, musically, had not occurred in 2015, with goals set in 2014. Apparently, the fact was a no-brainer!

Whatever I’d set as goals in 2014 would simply be carried forward, without regret, without conditions and without guilt or frustration. It appeared to me that the failure to achieve goals and objectives was simply a matter of priority-interruptions (as we say in the computer operating system and hardware business) . I simply considered 2016 as a release of prior completed processes that opened the mind-share to 2014 goals and objective.

Personal ideas conceived only bear fruit when completed. Thus, the fact remained that my ideas were at least 2.5 years ahead of the physical manifestation in 2016. How much farther ahead of my reality is my mental conceptions? In some cases, I’ll not live to see the fruition of mind. On the other hand, today … this moment is what there is to achieve what has been mentally conceived.

Playing my instrument well and learning to perform those melodies I admire is now a possibility. My technique was coached by John Patitucci. performance by Wayne Darling and Dan Zimmerman and confidence by John Clayton and Rufus Reid and Buster Williams. Reggie Workman, Ron Carter, Richard Davis, Ray Brown, Jaco, Michael Manring, Stanley Clarke, Esperanza Spalding, Paul Jackson, Anthony Jackson and Ray Drumond (among and along with every other bassist I’ve heard on broadcast or recording) can be blamed for my inspiration. Special thanks goes to Charlie Mingus and James Jameson. My understanding was coached to execution by Victor Wooten. All of that occurred in 2015, leading me to finally get to what I wanted to do in 2015.